Hunan University

The Administration Building of Hunan University designed by Liu Shiying (Chinese architect), the founder of modern architectural education in China.

Hunan University traces its history back to the Yuelu Academy, founded in 976 AD during the Song dynasty.[11][12] Shuyuan was one form of private educational institution in China; another form was government-sponsored academies including imperial central school Taixue or Guozijian and regional schools. The Yuelu Academy was a venue for Chinese scholars and their students to meet and discuss sophisticated topics in Confucian Studies.

The modern school was founded in 1897, initially called Shiwu Institute (Xuetang) (时务学堂). In 1903, the modern university was renovated from Yuelu Academy into the Hunan Institute of Higher Education after founding the Shiwu school; renamed Hunan University in 1926; and designated by the Ministry of education as one of the 16 national universities in 1937.[13] It was renamed Central-South Institute of Civil Engineering in 1937, and then, Hunan Polytechnic College. The name Hunan University was again adopted in 1949.[14][13]

The calligraphy of "Yuelu Academy" was written by Emperor Zhenzong of Song in 1015, and the calligraphy of "Hunan University" was written by Mao Zedong in 1950 as soon as the People's Republic of China was founded.

On July 18, 1959, Hunan University was officially restored after the national readjustment of higher education institutions.[15]

In 1978, HNU's status as one of the 88 National Key Universities in China was reaffirmed.[15][16]

In 1998, HNU passed the prerequisites appraisal and became one of the universities sponsored by the major national program "Project 211".[15]

In 2001, it was qualified as a member of the "Project 985" to facilitate efforts and progress toward a comprehensive, research-oriented, and internationalized world-class university.[15][4]

In 2017, Hunan University was listed in the Double First Class University Plan, the most recent major program for developing high-level China's universities.[17][18]

For more than 1000 years, academic activities have been carried on here. In the course of its development from Yuelu Academy to Hunan University, this long-established institution has cultivated a large number of outstanding scholars and has been honored as an "Ancient Millenarian Academy, Famous Centennial University".[11][19] Additionally, Times Higher Education named Hunan University the "One Thousand Year Old University" due to its incredible longevity and recognized it as "China's oldest higher education institution".[19]

Hunan University Library

Hunan University is a national key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of China, and a member of Project 211 and Project 985, as well as the Double First Class University Plan.[16][4] In October 2020, Hunan University has been selected as the National Intellectual Property Demonstration University among the first batch of 30 demonstration universities by the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the Ministry of Education of China.[20] The administration is led by a CPC secretary and a president. The current secretary is Deng Wei and the president is Duan Xianzhong.

Central Teaching Building, at the south rim of the Central Quad, one of the major liberal arts teaching buildings

Hunan University Stadium

There are more than 30,000 full-time students, including more than 20,800 undergraduates and more than 14,000 graduate students.[21]

It has the following colleges and departments:

• Architecture
• Biology
• Business Administration
• Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Chinese Language and Literature
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science and Electronic Engineering
• Design
• Economy and Trade
• Educational Science
• Electrical and Information Engineering
• Robotics
• Environmental Science and Engineering
• Finance and Statistics
• Foreign Languages and International Studies
• Journalism and Communication and Film and Television Arts
• Law
• Marxism Studies
• Mathematics and Econometrics
• Materials and Engineering
• Mechanical Vehicle Engineering
• Physical Education
• Physics and Microelectronics Science
• Yuelu Academy

The dormitories for oversea students are located at Dezhi Students' Residential Area and North campus. Hunan University has started to recruit international students since 1992 and is one of the Project 985 universities in China to launch an international student program taught entirely in English.[22][23] Every year, Hunan University has approximately 1,000 international students from over 108 countries and regions in the world, as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, working for bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctoral degrees or studying the Chinese language and culture.[24] Hunan university welcomes applications from international students to study at the university through the Self-Financed Program, the Partial Scholarship Program and the Full Scholarship Program for eligible students. More than 10% of all the international applicants have been awarded full scholarships.[25][26][27] A number of scholarships include the Distinguished Foreign Students Scholarship, Hunan Provincial Government Foreign Students Scholarship, Chinese Government Scholarship, Silk Road Scholarship Program and Confucius Institute Scholarship.[28][29][30]

Hunan University has been active in academic exchanges. It has established academic cooperation or academic exchange programs with over 160 oversea universities and research institutes across the world since 1998, such as Yale-China Association, University of California, Berkeley, Georgia Institute of Technology, Colorado State University, University of Waterloo, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds, University of Twente, Universität Bremen, Ghent University, Nanyang Technological University and Monash University.[31] It has been honorably listed among "China's Top 10" for four consecutive years by the Ministry of Education, in terms of placing joint international education as a top priority program.[32]

Hunan University is one of the top universities in China to form the BRICS Network University, a network of the BRICS member countries' higher education institutions engaged in cooperation and joining the BRICS Network University.[33][34]

Hunan University is ranked in the top 300 large comprehensive public research universities in the world based on several most cited and reputed global university rankings such as ARWU, US News, and CWTS Leiden.[7][8][35][36][37][38]

Among its prominent alumni are Wang Fuzhi, a celebrated philosopher in Chinese history; Wei Yuan, a reformist who first advocated to learn from the West; Zeng Guofan, the first Chinese to initiate the Modernization Movement (at the time called Yangwu Yundong, a movement to imitate overseas technology and industry) and to make arrangements for a modern factory in China; Zuo Zongtang, a national hero who arranged to build China's first modern navy and took great pains to defend and develop Xinjiang; Guo Songtao, China's first ambassador to a foreign country; Cai E, a major leader in defending the Republic of China; Zhang Fengxuan, the first Chinese to set foot on the continent of Antarctica;[54] and Ci Yungui, the chief designer of China's first super computer.[55] A extensive list of Hunan university alumni can be found here.

• President of Hunan University
• Hunan University faculty
• Hunan University station
• List of universities in China

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hunan University.

• Official website (in Chinese)
• Official website (in English)
• University history